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A Call For Broadband

Posted by garym on February 3, 2005 - 8:50pm

Enough is enough: it's time Bell flipped the switch and let flow the highspeed DSL internet connections to the rest of Sauble Beach. What follows are the facts, some of them official, some of them (ahem) unofficial insider stuff, but facts are facts and the fact is, there is no real tangible business or technical reason why we can't have highspeed to all of Sauble Beach.

The following article was sent in by our local resident expert and industry insider on all things telecommunicational; to protect their sources, they'd like to remain anonymous for now ...

We all know that high-speed access has been available to the downtown core for some time now. The official map says everyone north and east of 6th Street / D-Line (including Amabel-Sauble School), south and east of 6th St / D-Line until before that little road beside the highway, and about 1/2 of those living between the Sauble Parkway and the D-Line south of 6th (part of Manley Crescent and Forbes Dr), are not eligible for Bell Sympatico high-speed service, and everyone west of the Sauble Parkway (within 5km of Kirklands) is eligible ... and a huge number of them have it.

Maybe it's time we changed all that ...

No earthly reason ...

Those of us in the 6th St / D-Line subdivision are excluded because we connect through what is called a SMU, a remote switch extension. You can see it on the right, just before you get to the school driveway heading north on the Parkway. These remotes require additional an electronics shelf to service DSL. What's more, most of us are still within the magic 5km distance to be fed directly by the main office at Kirklands -- There is a 50-pair cable running to the schoolyard remote, originally installed in case a 'party line' subscriber ordered service.

Orders for high speed were actually placed when it was first introduced to Sauble a year ago, but then cancelled by the Planning Dept. The excuse: if they ever added the required shelf to service the whole subdivision, they would require all 50 copper pairs for the shelf, so they didn't want to start placing subscribers into that cable. So the line exists: We know they could service 50 people right now, with little or no capital expenditures ... or they could add the shelf and service everyone (to about as far back as Knights farm on Duffies backroad).

... and they admit there's demand ...

Inside info says Bell believes there is more than 50 potential customers and they won't deny 1 person for the sake of another. However, they don't feel the demand is high enough (or "immediate enough") to warrant adding the circuit shelf -- the required fibre was placed 6 years ago and lit up last winter to feed Sauble main; it is at about 10% capacity and passes within 15 feet of the SMU cabinet in question.

In a casual poll of about a dozen residents, only 2 had no immediate want for DSL. The other 10 were very beyond waiting.

... so let's fix it!

Those of us living in this area have 3 courses of action, maybe more, but here's two to consider as ways to get the DSL switched on:

  1. Education of our neighbours -- everyone needs to know the rest of Sauble has DSL and that Bell doesn't believe we need or want it that bad.
  2. All the 300 or 400 people affected should immediately call Sympatico and request to be added to the waiting list -- some have already done so, but do it again, just to be sure (you know how forgetful Bell can be). It probably wouldn't hurt if all 400 people were to also call the 1-800 number to register a complaint.
  3. As a last resort, we could mount a petition to both Bell and the CRTC. That might draw some senior attention and get some wheels moving.

If we yell loud enough, there's reason to believe Bell will hear it. Bell can listen, but only when big money or large numbers of people are behind it.

To put this into a bit of perspective, Amtelecom (the former Taylor Tel of Lions Head to Tobermory) is right now placing remote cabinets and new switching equipment on the peninsula. They starting last spring and will complete the work this week. The cost of the roll-out has been high, but as of the end of this week there are a grand total of 10 customers who are excluded from high speed ... and they will offer those 10 DSL-Light (128K DSL vs the regular 3Mps DSL).

Since no Indian land exists in their exchanges, they get no gov funding, Amtelecom are doing this 100% on their own. Pretty impressive for a small company that charges the same rates as Bell but doesn't have any big business customers to feed them.

Now, dig this: the following hamlets and villages now have high-speed

  • Dyers Bay (only 60 customers)
  • Cape Chin North (40 customers)
  • Johnson's Harbour (140 customers)
  • Pike Bay (45 permanent, 100 cottagers and the home of DSISP.net)
That's 1.5 megabits of DSL for $40/month, or twice that rate for probably twice that rate, and for the light-weight surfers, there's the 128 kilobit DSL-lite for about the same rate as you'd pay for 56k dialup.

Just as one last kick while we're down, Amtelecom's installation includes adding a NIC to your PC and setting up your network software and wiring a dedicated wall-jack for your PC. Installation charge was $99 ... now it's free.

What are we to do?!

Maybe, with the right kind of pressure and a coordinated effort from our subdivision, maybe just maybe Bell DSL will come quickly; if we just sit and wait, word has it the earliest planned date more than 3 years away.

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What about Oliphant

Submitted by garym on February 3, 2005 - 10:24pm.

more from our insider ...

Oliphant is another similar but more 'acceptable' situation. The fibre does go by the Women's Institute on the corner. Problem in Oliphant is the distance to the 2 remotes that feed it (McKenzies SkiDoo and the corner at Silver Birch Estates) from the fiber and more importantly the older DMS-1 cabinets there. They are not DSL (or even message waiting light) compatible and probably would cost $200,000 each to replace. Also no copper options exist for them like we have here.

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Oil

Submitted by mip (not verified) on February 3, 2005 - 11:20pm.

I totally agree with you Gary. When we first moved here and only dial-up was available on the Main St, I was going crazy. One evening in total frustration when a 5MB upload to a client failed, for the second time I wrote an email requesting the service. The next day, I wrote a letter and mailed it. Then I placed a phone call. Three touch points in one week. I did that again the next week. Resent the email, reprinted and mailed the letter and phoned 310-BELL again. I did that for a year - 52 weeks, count'em. 156 points of communication later, I got a call from a pleasent woman that said "Highspeed service is coming to Sauble Beach and we are assuming you are taking it, right?" Darn tootin' was my response.

So you're right Gary. The residents throughout Sauble need to be educated as to the benefit of high speed and the costs. Then those that want it, start your emailing, letter writing and phoning. Hopefully it won't take 52 weeks!

Time for an oil change and new wheels?

Submitted by bub on February 5, 2005 - 1:32pm.

In my winter home, Bell Simple-pal-to-go is available 3 miles away, but cuts off nearly 30,000 people east of Gray Road.Solution was going to cable.Maybe if Sauble had a little competition, they may..just may start taking things seriously(although it didn't work here)Ive emailed Cogeco asking them when they are going to expand/take over cable in Sauble ;) Maybe a little change is good!

Now..only if we could get Wi Max that would be grrrrrreat.

Perhaps even lobby the Gov't to get into this BRAND initiative, where they have helped the town of Chatham get High Speed.
Maybe even get Bruce Nuclear into the Internet business..have the signals sent over the power lines
This should put a little fire under the heels of Bell.Imagine that..options! :)

Sauble Beach - A Call for Broadband (for all of us!)

Submitted by misu2001 (not verified) on February 20, 2005 - 1:32pm.

Dear Gary M and all others concerned,

Yes, we need to get high-speed internet/broadband in the rest of Sauble Beach!  Operating any kind of business without high-speed is like hitchhiking to work....  You may get there but you don't know if or even when....  The squeaky wheel does get the grease.  More squeaky wheels make more noise so I hope all interested are doing what Gary has suggested so far.  Thanks for your efforts to date Gary to make this happen!  It helps when the facts are known and clearly expressed as you have done.

Sauble Broadband: reply from Bell Sympatico Tech

Submitted by misu2001 (not verified) on February 21, 2005 - 12:15pm.

There are a couple of items the reader should know:

1) The message below was in response to an email sent February 20, ('05) which is pasted at the bottom of this entire message.  The response (directly below) from a Bell Sympatico Tech (sent February 20, same day) was obviously cut and pasted from a previous message sent to someone else on January 20, ('05).  also,

2) The only editing I did was to remove extra spaces and  '>' symbols for easier reading.  A private phone number (that can't receive High-Speed service in Sauble) was removed.  No words, phrases or sentences were removed or changed from the original message.

Quote:

"Original Message -----
From: "Bell Sympatico" <assistance@sympatico.ca
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2005 5:27 PM
Subject: Re: CONTACT US REQUEST: Technical - Other (KMM10867963V38299L0KM)

Hello,

You have reached Technical Support at Bell Sympatico Internet service.

My name is Kevin and I appreciate the opportunity to respond.

Thank you for your interest in our High Speed service.

Unfortunately DSL service is not available on  (000) 000-0000 [phone # removed for privacy reasons] at this time.

High Speed availability is not solely dependant on your geographical area, as not all phone lines in a particular home or neighborhood are necessarily connected to the same central office. This is why some people in your area may have High Speed and others don't. There are also other physical limitations to take into consideration, such as distance issues, AMLs, loaded coils, bridge taps, remote offices, etc. Any of these factors will prevent you from receiving any DSL service.

DSL availability is dependent on the physical limitations of the
technology and unfortunately, we are not able to influence where and when the service will be offered.

For more information on how DSL works, please visit:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/dsl

If you would like to be contacted when DSL is available, please enter your information at the website below.

http://bell.sympatico.ca

Thank you for e-mailing Bell Sympatico and have a nice day.

Regards,

Kevin
Electronic Customer Care
Sympatico Member Services

================================================================
We hope that you were satisfied with the service that you have received via e-mail. In an on-going effort to provide the best possible Customer service, we invite you to take our Member Satisfaction Survey. We are continuously looking at ways to improve our service and we would appreciate your comments and feedback.

 http://eccsurvey.sympatico.ca/"

Unquote.

Customer's complaint follows below:

Quote:

"Original Message Follows:
 ------------------------

First Name: Given Name

Last Name: Last Name
Phone #: (000) 000-0000 [phone # removed for privacy reasons]
Sympatico Member: No
Email Address: [email address removed for privacy reasons]
Category: Technical
Topic: Other

Comments: Re:  "We're sorry, SympaticoTM DSL Internet service is not currently available in your area with the number 000-000-000 but will be coming soon."

(for source of above see link below *)

What does:  "...but will be coming soon."  mean?  There are many individuals in the Sauble Beach area still without high-speed Internet for reasons that are not valid anymore.  Please see comments at this web page why this is true:

http://sbp.teledyn.com/node/463

I used to be a Bell Sympatico member in the recent past (Southampton, ON, 2003/4).  Currently my dial-up service is with BMTS that offers a slip-stream technology to speed up the dial-up process.  That slip-stream service is inconsistent and varies with customer traffic on the telephone line.  I would like to establish a part-time business on the Internet but it wouldn't be practical with dial-up due to the need for graphics and prompt response times.  Please send this message to those who can finish the job at Sauble Beach and give the remaining customers in Sauble Beach DSL service.

Thank you.

* from the following link:

http://www.bell.ca/shop/

Unquote.

Note: link directly above was shortened as longer version did not work as that final page is no longer available.  One can input any phone that can't receive high speed DSL and get the same default response.

Hit them where it hurts

Submitted by garym on March 22, 2005 - 5:42pm.

I may have found a way to get Bell's attention!

Pretty obvious when I think about it: The thing Bell likes best of all is to nickle and dime us with incremental monthly additions to our statements, and sure enough, got the call today, "We see you are a loyal Bell customer and were wondering if ..." they always begin ...

So I countered: "No, I'm pretty happy with all the services we have now, except there's one service that I'd really, really like to add ..." -- I've been assured, twice, that my request and contact information is being relayed to the appropriate department who will contact me within 48 hours to 'discuss' it.

So maybe that's the ticket: refuse to budge on adding anything unless they're willing to discuss this year after year of promising highspeed 'soon' ...

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

Did it happen? Really?

Submitted by garym on May 10, 2005 - 12:36am.

At the moment, it's all heresay and unconfirmed but you can bet I'll be on the phone tomorrow and I highly recommend that you all do the very same as soon as the Bell Canada business offices are open for business because I heard from a neighbour who heard from a neighbour who had received 'The Call' from Bell today ... or maybe it was an email, the details are sketchy.

but the story goes that the message received offered highspeed service for residential subscription on Birchwood Avenue ...

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

Alas ... false alarm

Submitted by garym on May 10, 2005 - 3:17pm.

Confirmed by both the 310-BELL and through their website, there is no highspeed as yet in this corner of Sauble Beach. "Within the next few months," says the voice-activated robo-receptionist on the phone line, but no details beyond that

There is, however, one disturbing bit of additional data: As you all know, Sympatico is now Microsoft-Sympatico, and on trying to navigate the maze of pages to get to that point of asking about my phone number, I was faced with a manditory question about my hardware suitability quotient, and denied any option that was not either Microsoft Windows or 30% Microsoft-owned Apple Macintosh. I'm hoping that's just because they don't want to support any systems they don't own, and not because they've now tied the highspeed modem to the O/S the way they've usurped most printers and fax machines.

Anyway, back to the availability question, I clicked on the slick real-time chat thing on the Sympatico website and after a <.i>your call is in the queue pause, got connected to Bell Sales ...

Troy: Hello, thank you for visiting bell.ca. How may I help you today?
you: I'm wondering about highspeed in my area; I heard that a neighbour got a call from Bell offering her service, but it's an unconfirmed rumour at this point :)
Troy: i can check for you
Troy: when last did you check?
you: few months ago
you: Feb I think
you: at that time they said "in a few months"
Troy: ok let me check please hold
Troy: ok
Troy: please hld while i check for you
Troy: Which Bell services do you currently subscribe to? Sympatico, Mobility or Express Vu?
you: ExpressVu
(long pause)
Troy: What Internet provider do you currently use?
you: the only highspeed provider we have :( ... very expensive wireless broadband.
Troy: how much?
you: $99/month for 440k and $4000 one-time cost in hardware to get connected. After 3 years, the radio needs replacing (be about $500 plus installation up the tower)
Troy: oh my
Troy: that is expensive
Troy: is that for a residential line
you: yeah
you: technically, it's a "SOHO" account, small home biz
you: I work from home, but we're not a home-based biz
Troy: do they offer a residential account cheaper?
you: I think there's a plan for $60, but the bit-cap was such that you'd use it up with 4 hours of RealAudio. I think they've relaxed that a bit, but it's still more limited than the soho account.
you: and the hardware cost would be the same
Troy: do you get work related calls to your home number?
you: no, the company provides a cellphone for that
Troy: do they supply you with a fax number?
you: no, just cell and cell-internet
you: I have a fax machine, just threw it on to the heap at the dump last weekend. Felt wonderful to hurl it out and hear it crash down the pile.
Troy: :)
you: the only fax I ever got was spam. I still get half a dozen spam faxes every day. all with no return number on the call display.
Troy: wow
Troy: you know you can put a stop to that
you: I called Bell and they said we could press charges and call in the police and all, but I figure they'd just get replaced by new ones, like telemarketing. Until it's illegal in Canada, not much we can do. We never answer the phone unless it's a number we know
you: so anyway, back at Sauble Beach :) ... any prognosis for broadband?
Troy: no there are no set dates in the system
(... long and pleasant conversation about spam, websites and the IT biz ...)
you: so -- no set dates, eh? pity. Can you log that you got yet another desperate request from the only remaining corner of Sauble Beach where highspeed has not been enabled?
Troy: it would make no difference if i do or do not
you: anyway. Thanks for looking into the highspeed thing for me, I guess all I can do is wait it out.
Troy: sorry about that
Troy: Thank you for visiting bell.ca. ...

Gee, that's encouraging -- you'd think the least he could do is lie and reassure me that all was well and yes we'll get right on it sir. I'm not accustomed to getting a real human being and their honest assessments over a Bell product support line!

But bottom line, according to Troy, is no, not yet.

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

Oliphant Observation

Submitted by J-diddy (not verified) on October 11, 2005 - 6:48pm.

On my way into work this morning, I noticed a construction site next to the Oliphant Women's Institute, which (as my heart skipped a beat) I decided looked very much like a Bell telephone installation. Not having time to investigate right then, I opted to check it out later.

Upon closer inspection this afternoon, I noted that it looks remarkably similar to the DMS-1 cabinets Gary mentioned above, only several times larger, with an interior access door equipped with a keypad lock, and with an airconditioning unit hanging off the south end. It has about a dozen conduits extending out the front which lead into a freshly-dug trench extending to a nearby hydro/telephone pole.

Now I can't be certain that this is not a hydro installation, but based on the distinctive brown colour, and the unit's proximity to the fibre location Gary mentioned, I can be excused for concluding it could be the long-awaited telephone system upgrade that will finally bring broadband to Oliphant.

Can anyone confirm what this installation really is?
Am I getting my hopes up for nothing? I really hope this is telephone-related. Our hydro works fine--we don't need any upgrades there. Our 26.4 kbps dialup service, however, is another matter entirely!

Update

Submitted by J-diddy (not verified) on October 13, 2005 - 1:28pm.

I phoned the Town of SBP, and was told that, as I had guessed, it is indeed a Bell Telephone facility being constructed beside the Oliphant Women's Institute. I still don't know what it's for, exactly, but I'm still hopeful it will mean improved telephone service in the community, and maybe even DSL someday! (fingers crossed)

Nag Bell ... Electronically

Submitted by garym on July 29, 2006 - 9:40am.

sigh - here now the brink of August and there's no sign of that Inukshuk wireless and even less sign of any landline highspeed, but what there is now is an online form where you can sign up to be alerted when one of these services opens up in your area: Go to Bell's Access Information page and fill in your phone number, and at the bottom of the depressing result list of just one service (overpriced dialup) you will see an option to fill out the form to be notified. Fill it out, get your spouse to fill it out, your neighbours, your cousins and anyone else you can press into service ...

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

Directway

Submitted by Dodge on August 6, 2006 - 11:57pm.

Saw a nice neat installation on Colpoys tonight. 70Kb/sec and several torrent downloads on going while sending out url requests.
There is a 3-5 second delay after a page request on the uplink but it didn't seem to be a problem. My high speed DSL at home is faster (180Kb) but this was impressive and it was hard to believe that 2 watt uplink in the yard. $76/month including a $6 monthly access fee to industry Canada which is a rip....Anyway the price is good if you can write it off. Apparently there is a Canadian competitor but it sux. They force you to upgrade just to get it to work.

Seems like a waste of time to pester bell they don't have the service to offer.

Broadband via BMI Sat

Submitted by garym on August 9, 2006 - 9:43pm.

I think you'll find Directway's canadian counterpart is locally known as BMI: Those prices and performance stats are very comparable to what is posted on the BMI website. Unfortunately, for my own use, I need interactive control, instant response and I need secure access; due to the 22,000 km distance to the satellite and the bit-batching this method uses to fake fast response, it is just not feasible for me. There's also the unspoken issues of electrical storms anywhere inbetween and the ice-buildup issues that are all too well known by those of us on satellite TV.

Mind you, for those who, as they say, like to watch, the new satellite systems are very cost effective, although I shouldn't tell you that because all those who just want their downloads faster will flock to this route taking the much-needed pressure off Bell to provide real symmetric and interactive communications.

But you are right, now that my dsisp link has finally packed it in completely (after a year of 3/4 uptime and half-speed at full-price), I am beginning to lose hope, and after two weeks now back on dialup with no end in sight, my employer is beginning to lose patience. This could spell the beginning of the end of my residency in these net-crippled neighbourhoods. Not that I expect the Town Office will miss me (my tax dollars being replaced by whoever buys this place) but if I can't live here due to connectivity issues, I expect there are others who also cannot live here without a modern link to the digital economy.

It is intriguing to hear about the immanent Oliphant connectivity; we'd been pondering Oliphant/RedBay ever since the Sauble parking/pipeline wars began :)

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

so strange

Submitted by bub on August 10, 2006 - 11:53pm.

what is it with bell...I have high speed and im just south of carsons camp..on silver lake...huron woods has it too..mind you *ahem* what passes for high speed, we call dsl :)(im on 100+ mbps right now)

**********************************************************************
"Did A.J.Krapper organize a mass walk-out of latrines?"
-zenGary

Oliphant highspeed coming this fall!

Submitted by J-diddy (not verified) on August 9, 2006 - 4:38pm.

On a hunch, I contacted Amtelecom last week about the fibre being installed along Bruce Road 13 between Wiarton and Oliphant. Turns out it is indeed Amtel that's doing the work, and that by the fall, they'll be set to offer broadband Internet using their recently-purchased Oliphant cable system!

Pricing will be comparable to that in Stokes Bay and other communities they already serve further up the peninsula. I can't wait! I'll believe it when I see it, of course, but the fact they're burying fibre is encouraging. And they've got a reputation now for serving small, out-of-they way communities, so this is excellent news for me and my fellow Ollies. Now if only they'd commit to a date, I'd book my installation ;)

Another highspeed option for Oliphant?

Submitted by J-diddy (not verified) on August 15, 2006 - 12:36am.

I was biking past the Oliphant Women's Institute the other day when I happened upon a technician working on the sizeable telephone structure that went up there last November. This was the first I'd ever seen a technician on site, so naturally I couldn't resist a closer look. It's a lot bigger inside than it looks from the outside, but I digress...

I've long suspected my continued 28.8 kbps dial-up cap is due to the fact that this facility is not yet wired in, though I did notice a while back that it is drawing power. Anyway, on this occasion I spoke to the technician, and he confirmed my suspicion, but did not have a date for when they would flip the switch (why am I not surprised?). He did, however, also confirm that it's a Bell Canada facility, that it has nothing to do with the fibre install occurring along Bruce Road 13, and that when activated, not only will it lift the dial-up 28.8 cap once and for all, but Bell will also be equipped to offer DSL service in Oliphant. So between this and Amtelecom Cable, it looks like there might even be some highspeed choice in the near future, if you can believe it! We'll see... Even proper 56K service would be an improvement, but aim high, I say!

Highspeed in RedBay?

Submitted by garym on September 9, 2006 - 10:03am.

Any news on this or the bell roll-out for Oliphant? Anyone hear any hints on whether Red Bay might be included in either plan?

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

Oliphant highspeed ready

Submitted by rcomputer on November 22, 2006 - 6:15pm.

When we had cable TV installed in August the tech stated that the Cable Internet was due for November. A work crew at the sports ground at the end of October confirmed that it was still November. Pestering phonecalls requesting installation received 'not ready yet'. A letter arrived from the CEO stating it was now available in Oliphant. Enquiring phonecalls still were told 'a little longer'. Now the install appointment is made - no more 28.8k or 24k. Ha!!

My Letter to Larry Miller

Submitted by garym on September 25, 2006 - 3:52pm.
I sent this email yesterday to Larry Miller, cc to the Industry Minister's office. Yes I know that this is not the speediest method to resolve issues, but Larry always got me answers before, even if it took months, and, well, face it, I'm desperate ... 
From: Gary Lawrence Murphy 
Subject: When will we be allowed into the digital economy?
To: larry miller 
Cc: Minister.Industry@ic.gc.ca
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 22:53:32 -0400
Organization: free software is good for children and other living things
Reply-To: Gary Lawrence Murphy 


Dear Mr Miller,

This is absurd.  Today is a fall day in September, 6 YEARS INTO THE
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, and our Internet connectivity in this modern
young-family neighbourhood where I live is STILL creeping along at a
dismal 44kbps old-copper dial-up rate.

This is insane.  Whiskey Harbour has highspeed internet.  Dyer's Bay
has highspeed internet. The neighbourhoods surrounding the
Amabel-Sauble Community School?  We have modern homes, modern roads,
modern taxes ... yet we cannot get even the full 56K of a modern modem!

Apparently all the DSL hardware gear sits, all set to go, in the Bell
shack behind that school, but Bell will give no assurances; the phone
reps have been unofficially saying "3 to 5 months" for nearly TEN
YEARS now.  That is a disgrace.

For these upcoming municipal elections, our own Town of South Bruce
Peninsula has posted instructions for filling out mail-in ballots.
The instructions are in video format, posted to their website.  These
instructions would take the average Internet user in my neighbourhood
SEVERAL FULL DAYS to obtain online. It is faster to ride a bicycle
30km to the town office and get a copy burned to a CD-ROM!  

When I need to send large files for my work, we must use couriers or
the postal service.

I'm sorry to be yelling at you, I know it's not your fault and you may
not even really be aware of it or even know what I'm talking about,
but I am at my wit's end about it, there is no way to get any answers
from anyone, and most of my neighbours have just given up, or moved
away.  

As you know, my business depends on internet; I have lost a lot of
business because my connection has not been able to keep pace with
even the same bandwidth readily had in parts of rural India!  Where
once folks were in awe of "saublebeach.cbc.ca" (I even made the front
page of the Sun Times in 2002 for my groundbreaking work opening up
the digital economy to rural centres like Sauble Beach) now they greet
me incredulously with, "Are you STILL on dialup?"

they usually follow by asking if we have indoor plumbing.  I usually
don't laugh.

I tried the sole wireless vendor, the one and only option, but the
service was highly unstable, cost over $4000 to set up and performed
very poorly, clearly not a solution for anyone.  BMTS and Bell have
satellite systems, but these are bursty, designed for movie and game
downloads; satellite can be slower than modems for secure interactive
work and the lag makes voip or remote access unbearable. 

Meanwhile, only 3km away, there are restaurants on Main Street in
Sauble using 3mbps connections for their Interac.  That's THIRTY TIMES
the maximum speed I ever got off wireless, just for ringing up some
fries.  My kids are in school, and their /grandmother/ has THREE
HUNDRED TIMES the best bandwidth we ever got on wireless, nearly THREE
THOUSAND TIMES the speed we now get on dialup.

There were rumours last spring on the new wireless-highspeed from
Rogers and Bell (Inukshuk) saying that the licencing had required them
to service "22 underserviced communities by 2008, 5 of them by fall"
... it is now fall, and their service-area webpage for my phone
exchange has not changed; it seems obvious that this neighbourhood of
Sauble Beach is not among the 5 first-frontiers.  Must we now wait
another two years?  Can we even get THAT much assurance? Are we even
on that second-round list?

Please escalate my plea.  Please, can anyone tell us what Industry
Canada is doing to bring my neighbourhood into the digital economy,
and /when/ this going to happen?  

Best regards,

Gary Lawrence Murphy  ============================
====================== The present moment is a powerful goddess (Goethe)

I'll let you know what he says ...

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

Larry Miller reponds

Submitted by garym on December 4, 2006 - 9:59pm.

Ok, technically not Larry but his executive assistant Deborah Ingraham, but that's just as good because we all know that any political office is really a team effort and the personality can't be everywhere at once. I still knew they'd get back to me, they always do, and this is what they said:

From: Miller, Larry - Riding 1
Subject: when will we be allowed into the digital economy
Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006

Good afternoon Gary and thank you for your email advising me of your situation. I must apologize for the delay in responding to you.

I have taken the liberty of sending a copy of your email to the Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry asking for his comments on this issue. This is something that effects a large number of people in our riding and I am looking forward to receiving Minister Bernier's response.

If I can be of any further assistance please don't hesitate to contact my office.

Deborah Ingraham on behalf of Larry Miller, MP
Executive Assistant
Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound
519-371-1059

And thank you Deborah for doing that, and just so you know what we know, here is the reply I just sent off to their office:

From: Gary Lawrence Murphy
To: Miller, Larry - Riding 1
Subject: Re: when will we be allowed into the digital economy
Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006

I have good news.

Within literally days of sending that email to you, first I received some bad news, an email from a neighbour who had written to Industry Canada and received a very short and depressing response. In a nutshell, the IC spokesperson was saying that the 1990's promise of internet for everyone did not specify how fast it should go (although I recall the minister at that time saying 1mb/sec) and thus, they rested on their laurels because, indeed, nearly all canadians have internet access, regardless how poor quality it may be. their note continued on to praise the Ministry for the excellent bandwidth it has brought to aboriginal communities, and while I don't discount that or regret it, it did prompt me to say to another neighbour that it was too bad we weren't first nations people.

Shortly afterward I was approached by the Sun Times to do an article on me; you probably saw that, it would be hard to miss ;) and in the course of my rambling on for some 3 and a half hours (the poor woman had to make sense of those notes later) I mentioned how I always got action from your office so I wrote to you to express that same sentiment about the dearth of broadband. Of course, being the Sun Times, they quoted me on that ;)

But then! Again literally days after that article appeared blasted across the front page of the Sun Times B-section, on my website, quite unaware of the news article or my posts about broadband or anything, there was a request for a membership in my inbox, and in the place where I let members give their own business URL was a very curious string of letters.

It said simply "gbtel.ca

GB tel???? I loaded that into my browser in a flash. Sure enough, it stood for "Grey Bruce Telecom" and the website, at the time a very primative and obviously new website, said "highspeed wireless to Sauble Beach" -- only unlike dsisp, they claimed real highspeed, 1mb/sec and up ... all the way up to 90mb/sec!!

I phoned them, left a message, emailed them, left a message, left him a message on my website, found another info@ email and left a message, all of them saying "Can I be connected by 5pm today?"

Next day I connected up with a live human being, and while they couldn't reach my neighbourhood that day, once they found out that I owned a 80-foot antenna tower (and offered them free access to it) they spent the next ten days trying options, equipment changes, all sorts of technical things that eventually lead to my tower rebroadcasting their wireless signal to blanket precisely the neighbourhood I mentioned in my letter to you.

Situation: Solved!

Or almost. We only get 1mb/sec, which is 5 times more than what I got with dsisp and 20 times the speed of the average modem connection; they need to build up their cashflow, and winter has also now interceded, but they promise to upgrade their infrastructure in the spring to give us a full and proper highspeed. on the plusside, as a side effect of trying to reach my tower they installed a beacon at the north beach marina and that means they have the entire stretch of Sauble Beach covered, from the falls to Silver Lake.

GBTel, it turns out, is two young entrepreneurs ... they are committed to this neighbourhood, the service is first-rate (technically and business wise) with a real human face on it, and even more than all that, it is affordable, priced comparable to what people would pay for Bell highspeed there in Owen Sound.

So that's the story to far. They say they are not in it just to get rich and cut out, they are in it for the long haul ... "we just want a stable business" which is exactly the sort of free-agent nanocorp thinking I like to see in cottage country economies (I was on the board of sohodojo.com for a while ;) I suppose un-surprisingly it is the private enterprise and the fearless enterprising of small-business entrepreneurs who have solved our problem; nonetheless I would hope you might reward their initiative if ever some day they pop into your office looking for someone to cut them some slack ;)

But thank you for forwarding my request along, and it will be interesting to know if Industry Canada is aware of our neighbourhood enough to know that there is more than Rogers and Bell able to get us into the digital world ;)

best regards from the beach
Gary

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

Industry Canada reponds: Go Fish!

Submitted by garym on October 15, 2006 - 10:00am.

You'd better sit down, lest you hurt yourself rolling on the floor laughing. Courtesy of Hugh Wilson, the 'official' response he received from Anne Peters at Industry Canada for which I can give you the essential executive summary as "Sorry folks, you is SOL" and falls just short of recommending we all move to rural India:

From: Peters, Anne: IHAB []
Sent: September 11, 2006 1:26 PM
To: hn.wilson
Cc: Nowosielski, Allison: IHAB; Daschko, Yuri: IHAB; Foley, Louise: IHAB
Subject: RE: HIGH SPEED INTERNET ACCESS

Dear Mr. Wilson,

Thank you for your electronic correspondence of August 31, 2006, regarding high-speed internet access in the Owen Sound area.

While our records indicate that the community proper of Owen Sound has access to high-speed Internet via Bell Sympatico, we recognize that service does not extend to all areas within and around the community.

You are correct in stating that there is legislation in place to provide Canadians with basic telecommunications services.

Under the terms of the Telecommunications Act, which is administered by Industry Canada, Section 7b states that the objective is to: "render reliable and affordable telecommunications services of high quality accessible to Canadians in both urban and rural areas in all regions of Canada." You may read the Act in its entirety at http://lois.justice.gc.ca/en/T-3.4/263796.html. I would also recommend the Media Awareness Network Web site, which provides an excellent summation of the Act and its provisions. The site address is http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/legislation/canadian_law/federal/telecommunications_act/telecommun_act_ov.cfm.

Unfortunately, the Act, which was written in 1993, does not make specific provisions for broadband service. While the CRTC grants, amends and renews broadcast licences, monitors the performance of licencees and establishes broadcasting regulation and policy, it is not responsible for the expansion of Internet access. The CRTC's "Report on New Media" states that the Commission prefers to leave the Canadian Internet presence to market forces, but does regulate high-speed access rates between cable or telephone companies, and Internet Service providers.

As you may know, the federal government has implemented many successful programs, such as the Broadband for Rural and Northern Development Pilot Program and the National Satellite Initiative, to facilitate the availability of broadband access in all Canadian communities and rural areas.

These programs have had tremendous support from communities; however, all available funding for the Broadband Pilot Program has been committed and eligibility under the National Satellite Initiative is dependant upon satellite being the only reasonable means of connectivity for a community. In spite of the progress these programs have made, they will not be able to meet the needs of all communities across Canada. As such, the department is exploring options to bridge the broadband gap and is working collaboratively with all levels of government and the private sector to bring the benefits of broadband to the remaining unserved communities.

The Broadband Pilot Program supported Canadian communities in the development and implementation of business plans for the deployment of broadband infrastructure and further encouraged the private sector in taking a lead role in partnership with the communities to deploy the broadband infrastructure. A priority was placed on those communities affected by the digital divide, such as Aboriginal, northern, rural and remote communities. The Broadband Pilot Program defines a rural community as any community which is not urban; this definition includes fringe rural areas as well. The program used a competitive process, which required that all successful applicants met program criteria, which included a variety of factors such as demonstrated need, community engagement to support long term network sustainability and a commercially and viable network plan. Location was not the sole determining factor in the selection process, and many of the funded projects were located in what might be considered fringe rural areas.

While Industry Canada is exploring options, one alternative is for interested parties to act as or partner with a "community champion" in order to find potential partners and explore opportunities for broadband connectivity. One valuable resource is the Broadband Marketplace, where community champions can find help developing and/or implementing their broadband business plans, and post Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for the provision of broadband services in their communities. Service Provider companies have registered to receive automatic notifications when RFPs are posted, and can also post notices of their own describing their experience and capabilities to assist communities with broadband projects. For more information on this free service, please consult our Broadband Marketplace information page at http://broadband.gc.ca/pub/marketplace/index.html.

Industry Canada continues to recognize the challenges that are particular to rural and remote areas of the country, including fringe rural areas, and will continue to work towards a long term solution for closing the gap between Canada's served and unserved communities.

I trust this information is of assistance. Once again, thank you for writing.

---
Anne Peters
Information Management Team
Broadband Program - SITT | Le programme sur les services à large bande - STIT
Industry Canada | Industrie Canada
155 Queen Street, 14th Floor | 155, rue Queen, 14ième étage
Ottawa, ON, K1A 0H5
Tel. | Tél.: (613) 946-4091
Fax | Télécopieur: (613) 948-5044
peters.anne@ic.gc.ca
http://www.broadband.gc.ca

And thank you Anne for enlightening us as to the utter inefficacy and impotence of your office in the face of the rich and powerful digital media monopolies. It is so good to know our citizen interests are being so earnestly cared for.

Also, if I remember correctly, and I do, our illustrious Industry Minister at the helm during that 1993 term, that pre Paul Martin term, did indeed publically promise a national objective minimum connectivity metric of one megabit per second within 10 years which was, we may note, internationally very forward-thinking and in the best interests of every Canadian. Unfortunately, the winds of power did change and that particular Industry Minister did vacate that post, presumably prior to folding that metric promise into the Act, and did leave federal politics and to our collective rural chagrin, his farsighted vision was simply not shared by any administration since. Of course, Anne, being a civil servant, I do understand that you are not permitted the luxury of the leniency to entertain such memories, but they did happen nonetheless.

And in the decade-plus meantime, the average rural Canadian has remained largely no more connected than back in 1996 and as we all know now with perfect hindsight, we got, at best, $12/hr call-centre jobs, while the innovative new-economy wealth and growth has all gone abroad to India, Bosnia, Singapore, Nigeria and other more technologically advanced nations, forward-thinking pro-populi nations.

Excuse me. I need a moment to kick a waste-paper basket.

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

election comments on highspeed

Submitted by hockey17 on October 16, 2006 - 4:06pm.

when I read this I see the issue is cost and number of users..but never fear at the Thursday meet the candidates night in Wiarton John Close said he would (if elected mayor) would launch a class action lawsuit against Bell Canada because they do not provide some of our town with high speed....great use of taxpayers money!!!! Scary that someone would think like that > i don't see that this is the mayor for me!

Wouldn't it be better to have an EFFECTIVE strategy?

Submitted by garym on October 16, 2006 - 8:36pm.

It's not about cost. It is all about politics. Our lead article here already spells it out pretty clear: There are enough spare pairs sitting in that box unused, right now to supply 50 homes with quality DSL highspeed tomorrow morning. End of story. The argument is not cost or population, but according to our Bell Informant cited above, the problem is the opposite, that bell does not want to provide service where demand exceeds their capacity because it would embarrass them.

But I agree with you. Close offering a class action suit is

  1. absurd because there is no precident
  2. childish because it blames Bell for our own failure
  3. ignorant because there are oodles of ways municipalities our scale have provided municipally owned broadband.
  4. ineffective because he'd just blow a lot of money on more big city legal consultants and get nothing for it, and thankyouverymuch, we been there, done that, didn't even get a T-Shirt to show for it.

If you ask me, Close is saying this because he is either pretty darn sure he won't win, or because it will be a straw dog, an election promise he can later return to saying "It wasn't my fault it didn't go through."

Sadly, The Town of South Bruce Peninsula has been through this all many times before. Shooting itself in the economic foot waiting for knights in shining corporate armour to swarm in from the city to save them, I mean. Among our Peninsular historians you will find several who remember when Wiarton was a world leader in concrete technology, an entire industry snuffed overnight through petty political pennypinching. Flash forward to the 1990's and you have the ill-fated InfoCor Gateway where the director needed the Town Comptroller's signature to run off photocopies, all profitable leads were handed immediately over to BMI no questions asked, and after two years the only digital economy involvement amounted to the purchase of two very very old old old pentium computers.

Harambe means 'Working Together'

If Close really and truly wants to do something to help, he should be setting his sights to do something with a positive vibration; instead of idle and empty rhetoric shaking impotent fists at distant demigods, he should be arranging a simple trip to Toronto's Queen's Quay to sit down over a Bruce County Brew or two with chief Bell executives and seein' if'n maybe there might not be a tax-perk he could finagle that could just maybe perhaps make the installation of that li'l ol' second DSL shelf just a teensy more inviting for the honourable bean-counters at Bell. Not a bribe per se, heaven forbid any mayor of ours should do such thing, but a little greasing of the wheels shall we say. Do it the Canadian way: A little well-placed impetus to lure the Giant around to our humble way of seeing things.

Or simpler still, Close could be promising to ask real people real questions, to find out first-hand exactly how far we are from this ubiquitous highspeed for one and all, and then sketching a draft of a forward-thinking home-based entrepreneurial small-business microcorp information-economy strategy and follow with a companion municipal home-based info-economic road-work policy whitepaper ... then posting said draft for public scrutiny and comment on his personal blog website wiki so you and I and every stakeholder the SBP can chip in and work together and help him refine our policy to an occam's razor edge.

But I don't really expect John Close will do any such thing of the sort. Nor do I truly expect will Gwen or Carl or Paul or any of the others, probably not Larry or Bill or even the cyclic Greens. Why is that? Is it mayhaps the self-lessness and ego-transcendent idea that the result would not be their pet but would be instead our pet? Or is it perchance merely because it could well be a promise they could keep?

Oh, and while we're on the topic of spreading positive vibrations, before you hit your next 'comment' button, don't forget about tomorrow's chakra amplifying cosmic resonance pulse-beam UV trigger event ...

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever

Persona Busy on the Jewels Bridge Road?

Submitted by garym on November 11, 2006 - 9:46pm.

I can't be certain now this was the name, but I'm almost sure that the logo on the van parked beside the midweek crew busily digging up roadside along Jewels Bridge and hauling back down fat black cable said Persona Communications, and while that could be just routine cable-TV repairs, those loops of cabling they were packing were pretty darn fat and omninously gloss shiny-black ...

garym: ict evangelist - musician - whatever